This invention pertains to a collective control stick air combat switch control head and extension for use on rotorcraft, primarily. The collective control head and extension (hereinafter "control head" or simply "head") are shaped and conformed to account for anthropomorphic factors of hand size; hand, forearm and torso orientation with the operator seated; body orientation with the operator manipulating the control stick; accessibility of system control switches; and the operator's ease of control stick and system switch operations while piloting the aircraft. The control head sits atop a control stick and contains one or more buttons or switches for operating auxiliary systems of an aircraft such as a helicopter. The general purpose of a control head is to put system control means in proximity to an operator's (pilot's or copilot's) hand. It is important to design the control head so as to make the switching operations relatively swift, sure and convenient for the operator while he is piloting the aircraft. It is also important that a control head be designed, wherever possible, to relieve fatigue and mitigate distractions that an operator may experience in performing multiple control functions during extended flight operations. The particular switches placed on a control head will vary in number and kind depending on the primary mission assigned to the aircraft they are installed on.
In recent years, there have been many developments and refinements in auxiliary systems that support a wide variety of aircraft missions. These systems relate to utility, reconnaissance, transport, heavy lift, and weapons and combat applications. The placement of these multifarious systems on modern aircraft has required the concomitant placement of control switches and buttons in the cockpit to enable the aircraft operators to activate and use the systems. It is often desirable to place the auxiliary system control means on control heads. The resulting addition of control heads has necessarily raised ergonomic questions about the design and placement of the new control heads, and possible modifications in stick design.
At the same time, in the related art, the military and commercial aircraft designers and manufacturers (the latter often jointly with the military) have experimented with new designs for aircraft control sticks, particularly with helicopter control sticks. Such new designs were prompted in part by developments in fiber optic communications and advanced electronics, which introduced the possibility of transmitting flight control inputs from the cockpit to the main rotor and the tail rotor by electronic rather than mechanical or servo-mechanical means. In testing the practicality of using fiber optic technology in this manner, multi-axis (2-axis, 3-axis, and 4-axis) controllers have been built and tested as prototypes or as concept models. Multi-axis controllers usually comprise a hand grip on an arm rest; the hand grip controller may have system control switches in its head or upper portion.
Control sticks currently installed on most of the world's helicopters remain quite standard in design and placement in the cockpit. A helicopter pilot's collective control stick of the prior art is shown in FIG. 1. This stick is essentially the same as older collective sticks, except that it has a head containing some system control switches. The straight shaft of the stick is the same basic design for all collective sticks, whether or not they are fitted with control heads.
As depicted in FIG. 1, it is possible to substitute a control head (a head containing system control switches or buttons) for the knob typically placed atop these sticks. While such a simple adaptation of the typical collective control stick meets the immediate goal of placing system control means in a locus which is somewhat accessible to an operator, this goal has been met without desirable ergonomic and anthropomorphic refinements. There remains a need in the art for collective sticks fitted with control heads which are designed to account for hand size; the hand, forearm and upper body orientation of a seated operator; to make control operations very easy, rapid and sure while the operator maintains his hand on the control stick during flight; and to ease or avoid added operator fatigue and distraction in making multiple system control inputs during a flight.
To meet these needs, the collective controllers of the present invention have a handgrip portion shaped to fit the human hand curled in a gripping mode, so that collective pitch control inputs may be made smoothly and precisely over extended mission periods (1-2 hours); provide a bend in the collective stick shaft at the handgrip to conform to the general orientation of the hand while an operator is seated (thus permitting superior sitting posture for the operator); provide a collective head with system control switches placed on the collective head face to enable the operator to work the switches easily and swiftly with the thumb while maintaining his normal grip on the collective control stick during flight operations. These improvements to helicopter collective control sticks are especially advantageous in combat, but are nonetheless applicable to aircraft performing other combat-related or noncombat missions including reconnaissance, supply, utility, transport, heavy lift, and convoy missions. While the invention is intended mainly for helicopters, other derivative controllers of the invention with modified control heads would be applicable to tilt-rotor aircraft, hovercraft, flarecraft, spacecraft, wingships, and submersible craft, also.